Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The reality of women in combat

There is a campaign underway to open up infantry combat positions to women in the American armed services. The campaign has encountered an interesting opponent - a woman by the name of Katie Petronio who has five years' experience as a combat engineer in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why does Katie Petronio think female combat infantry to be a bad idea? Because despite all her training, her body wasn't able to stand the rigours of combat as much as her male peers:

I was a star ice hockey player at Bowdoin College, a small elite college in Maine, with a major in government and law. At 5 feet 3 inches I was squatting 200 pounds and benching 145 pounds when I graduated in 2007. I completed Officer Candidates School (OCS) ranked 4 of 52 candidates, graduated 48 of 261 from TBS, and finished second at MOS school. I also repeatedly scored far above average in all female-based physical fitness tests (for example, earning a 292 out of 300 on the Marine physical fitness test). Five years later, I am physically not the woman I once was...

I was a motivated, resilient second lieutenant when I deployed to Iraq for 10 months, traveling across the Marine area of operations (AO) and participating in numerous combat operations. Yet, due to the excessive amount of time I spent in full combat load, I was diagnosed with a severe case of restless leg syndrome. My spine had compressed on nerves in my lower back causing neuropathy which compounded the symptoms of restless leg syndrome.

While this injury has certainly not been enjoyable, Iraq was a pleasant experience compared to the experiences I endured during my deployment to Afghanistan...By the fifth month into the deployment, I had muscle atrophy in my thighs that was causing me to constantly trip and my legs to buckle with the slightest grade change. My agility during firefights and mobility on and off vehicles and perimeter walls was seriously hindering my response time and overall capability. It was evident that stress and muscular deterioration was affecting everyone regardless of gender; however, the rate of my deterioration was noticeably faster than that of male Marines and further compounded by gender-specific medical conditions. At the end of the 7-month deployment, and the construction of 18 PBs later, I had lost 17 pounds and was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (which personally resulted in infertility, but is not a genetic trend in my family), which was brought on by the chemical and physical changes endured during deployment.

She didn't even deploy as often as her male peers and yet her body packed it in. That's not surprising given that the female body is not there for combat purposes.

I have a DVD entitled, "The Monstrous Regiment of Women."It is about Feminism and the title is courtesy of the Scottish Reformer,John Knox.The film discusses women in the military (among other things) and gender-norming is mentioned and this is when allowances are made for women's lesser strength in training,so,for example,they are not required to do as many push-ups as the men.This may not be common knowledge as feminism wants to create the illusion that men and women are equal in physical strength and that women can do anything men can do,or can even do it better,as the song goes,Anything you can do I can do better." In terms of brute strength, I read that women have approx. 50% the strength of men,so they are a liability in the Army and the Police.Surely having women in the Army and Police renders chivalry a dusty old relic from the past and that is a real shame because gallant,chivalrous behaviour on the part of men is a delight to behold and experience.

I agree that another major problem of allowing women to be soldiers is that it undermines the sense men have of a protector role.

The masculine instinct is to form a protective line behind which the women and children of a society are secure. But if the women themselves move up to that line then it's more difficult for men to justify the sacrifices they are making.

The fact that massive stress, like age, causes infertility appears to have been mostly forgotten quite recently. The average adult Westerner might have less practical knowledge of reproductive biology than at any time in recorded history at this point.

Great post! The media narrative that progressive, secular, humanist ideas are harmless needs to be shown for the lie that it is.

For God's sake, they've stolen this poor woman's right to have her own children!

I'd assume there would be 100's if not 1000's of female soldiers who have now lost the ability to have children because they were knowingly placed in situations that they biologically could not handle (or are in the process of losing the ability) - and that has Class Action lawsuit written all over it.

100% correct, she will be a disabled vet for life, the two main points for not allowing females on the front line, has always been

1. Higher ratio and severity of injuries.

2. Ergo it costs more money to train, deploy, and in disabled pensions.

So the main factor always came back to monetary concerns for our Liberal politicians, rather then society at large.

ivvenalis,

When I transferred to a mixed Corps, I know of two women who admitted their service had made them infertile. One from the physical stress, and the other from the misuse of the pill. They were both between the ages of 25 and 30 years old by this time.

Compensation is very hard for them to claim, due to signing their life away to deploy as combat medics... So no lump sum payment, but they are both on a defence veterans pension now for Psychological reasons.

Personally over all females should be resigned to a women's Corps. It's not worth the hassle of fraternisation, and the morale destroying environment it creates.

Before my transfer I served in a front line Corps, all men, it was a breeze and joy compared to the mind F&(K, to a mixed Corps.

Ultimately this Liberal infection that is now taking hold in western militarises, the last standing strong hold, will see them into decline as well.

Craig,I was able to keep my daughter out of the military just by her seeing what I did on a day-to-day basis and not encouraging her to emulate her father ( I didn't encourage her brothers either, worked on one). I hope that the USA military exceeds it's goals for females and homos because that will weaken it and (I somewhat hate to say it) they will prove to be easier to defeat. As an American I don't believe in an empire or as being the world's police force.

Thousands of years of tradition in keeping women out of the front line, because, those who have gone before us knew that was the thing to do, has now been sacrificed on the altar of 'affirmative action' and 'equality'.

A doctor will tell you that the male and female not only think differently, they are also physically and biologically different. And while I accept that there are some women, and I have worked with some, that are suitably equipped to handle a male role in most things, it must be stressed that they are the exception, not the rule! And on that thinking, there are some men who will never become good soldiers or good policemen, but they are the exception and not the rule!

The liberal mind cannot compute that women have their suitable roles in any society and that men also have theirs. They refuse to accept that both genders are not by nature compatible with role reversing which is what 'affirmative action' and 'equality' are all about. We can all stand back and appreciate how this role reversing has had its impact on our police forces in those nations that have forgotten their traditions. Tradition, which is based on evidentiary conservatism, has been abandoned for lofty ideals that have many adverse consequences which we are now witnessing that the liberal mind would sooner forget after having put their destructive polices in place.

And it must be remembered that those who aspire to such damaging policies are also those who have had no experience in the fields they have control over, and this has been our greatest folly of all!

We have been too stupid to realize the impact of electing and putting into office those who have no real life experience with which to fall back on when making decisions that affect the future.

I have no doubt that unless this policy of including women in front line combat roles is not reversed, our military will suffer even further dysfunction that is already tearing at the fabric of Esprit de Corps and morale.

One of lifes simple lessons is that the male and female of any species on Earth cannot co-habit without doing what comes naturally. That our men and women are now expected to do this on our Naval ships and submarines goes to expose the absurdity of a policy that pretends no problems will be encountered by such a policy. It also proves that those who approve of such policies do not think out the consequences of such policies and are such shallow thinkers that their presence in overseeing such disastrous policies is akin to wilful neglect of the nations defences.

And if you believe that by voting against this current federal government at the next election will put things right, think again, because the so called 'conservative' Coalition are just as committed to gender equality as the Socialists!